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Sunday, October 14, 2018

Short week with no school on Monday, and homecoming on Friday:8 Oct Mon: Base on you own9 Oct Tues - Special Endurance 1 on grass 6 x 150 fast with 5 minute interval(6-8 miles total with WU and CD) Less for those racing on Wed10 Oct Wed: JV race : Varsity Hills at Morley/Balboa or base11Oct Thu: recovery or Morley Hills12 Oct Fri: Friday Homecoming - rest or on your own13 Oct Sat: Various - we did 5th lane tempo on the track with some (330 meters tempo, followed by 50 m jog for 12 laps.14 Sun : Rest, recovery, or 4 miles of cruise intervals with 4-5 x 200 meter pickups at mile pace.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

No school on Monday so some went to Morley Field. After a warmup and dynamics we ran 3 x half-mile up the CIF hill, all the way to the top. The route was such that there was running before and after the hill.
Then we ran a 1/4 mile loop on the grass four times with a long downhill descent followed by a short uphill. This was done continuously for a mile. After a water break we ran the same loop twice, followed by a 10 minute cool down.

Monday, August 27, 2018

On Saturday, August 25th, we took 16 runners to the Vaquero Stampede. The rest trained on their own. Those who didn't run did either a Fartlek workout with short pickups or a tempo run.The Vaquero Photos are here.

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

We had an aerobic to race pace workout on Aug 16 and a Billat 30/30 workout on the 20th, and the ZigZag/Powder hill session with the San Diego Track Club on the 21st. The other days were base.

The 30-30 workout is named, after its creator, Veronique Billat,an exercise physiologist at the University of Ille in France. Several years ago, Billat set a goal of trying to create workout formats that would allow runners to spend the greatest total amount of time at VO2 max and would therefore presumably produce the most powerful boosting effect on VO2 max and economy.

We ran three miles 30 seconds on 30 seconds off from Glorietta Bay Park to Tidelands.Newer runners ran a shorter route... see map below.This was followed by Core and Yoga led by Madden.

Monday, August 13, 2018

On Monday, the usual routine to Tidelands (Lunge Matrix, Dynamics at Centennial, 30 sec on-off to Tidelands). At Tidelands we did 10 x tempo/long sprint... see image. The Yellow segment was tempo, the green fast, the white recovery.
This was followed by 2 x Gambetta Leg Circuits and a 1.5 mile easy run back to the school.

Friday, August 10, 2018

On Friday10 August, after the Lunge Matrix, we ran the short way to Pomaoa Park for warmup drills. Then we ran base to Glorietta Bay Park. From there we ran 1.5 miles of Tempo to San Luis Rey. We ran 1 mile of Race Pace from San Luis Rey to Tidelands. At Tidelands we ran 1 k at 2-mile race pace (vVO2max). It was hot so we followed that with 10 x 100 meters through the sprinklers.

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Because of school visits and some kids being out of town the period from July 27th to August 5th was "On Your Own" base plus strides. On August 6th we did a Special Endurance 1 workout that consisted of a base warmup run from the school to Centennial Park (End of Orange Ave). There we did dymanics followed by 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off to Tidelands Park. At the Park we ran 6 x 300 meters fast starting every 9 minutes. The next day several members of our team joined the San Diego Track Club for a hill workout consisting of 6 times up the 6th street hill at Balboa Park. This was followed by strides and core as they usually do. The 8th and 9th was recovery. Tomorrow (Friday) the planned workout is a progressive run from Base to VO2max in segments.
-Coach Green

Sunday, July 22, 2018

On July 21st we had our first workout of the season at Morley Field.
After a 2-mile warmup, we did our dynamics, the ran the "Big Hill" three times... see map below.
The loop is 1.3 miles and features a long .6 mostly uphill stretch to start with, followed by downhill portion from the top of the CIF hill. Then there's a short steep hill, followed by a jog back to the start.
This was followed by 5 downhill grassy strides and a core session.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The July 18th workout was a warmup run down 6th to Pomona Blvd, to Pomona Park (after lunge matrix of course). At Pomona Park, we did dynamics, etc. then ran 2.3 miles to the south end of the sidewalk along along Ocean Blvd at base to low tempo pace... see map below.

From there (south end of Shores sidewalk) to South Beach we ran on the hard sand (zero tide today) to the Coroando Dunes, ran the dunes, and stopped briefly at the South Beach boardwalk (top image below).

From South Beach we run the dunes to North Beach..Bottom image above.

Then we walked to Sunset Park, got some water, and did 10 x 80 meter form strides, followed by

Monday, July 16, 2018

Cross Country...16 July 2018Lunge Matrix at school then ran around 7:30 - 7:45 pace to Pomona Park (1.8 miles down 6th to Glorietta to Pomona). Drills, etc. at Pomona Park.Then hilly 6 x 800 progressive reps at Pomona Park starting every 6 minutes.For example, if your estimated current time for 800 is 3 minutes you'd start with around 4:30 and finish with around 3:38. Core routine followed by a couple cool down miles.Total mileage was about 7 miles.

Saturday, July 14, 2018

The 47th annual Optimists Sports Fiesta is coming on 28 July with everthing from CornHole to a triathlon. Of special interest to our cross country athletes is the 5k run. For ages 18 and under the entry fee is only $10 ($30 for adults). This would be a great run/workout for anyone on the team whether you think you're ready or not. The Optimist Club is a big supporter of both our Track and Cross Country Teams. Not only have they given us thousands of dollars in the past they help with timing our home track meets. I'd like as many runners as possible to come out and participate in this run. If you plan to do so, let me know and I'll make sure the workouts leading up to the race are appropriate.Here is a link to the Sports Fiesta.

Friday, July 13, 2018

The workout for July 13th was a series of progressive runs starting from the school and ending at Tidelands Park. From the school (after a lunge matrix), we ran 2.3 miles to Glorietta Bay Park at the warmup pace of around 7:45 per mile. At GBP we did our dynamics and strides. The we ran 2 x 1 mile reps along the bay at high tempo pace, which took us to the old toll booth under the Coronado Bridge. From there we ran a half mile to the end of Tidelands Park at VO2max pace, followed by a 1000 meter loop around Tidelands at a bit faster than VO2max (2-mile race pace). This was followed by an Gambetta Leg Circuit x 2 and a jog back to the school. Total distance covered was approximately 7 miles. Some of the new kids ran parts of this workout as it was a bit too tough for newcomers. For more information on the paces see the tags at the top of this blog.
-Coach Green

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

For the first workout of the season on 9 July, I took a page from Micah Porter of D'Evelyn High School in Colorado. He's coached two Footlocker finalists and over 20 State Champs. An early workout of his is 200's and 400's at estimated 5k pace, on the track with a short jog in-between. Not only is this a great workout, it gives a sense of pace for running 5000 meters. We didn't do it on the track. We did it at Tidelands Park. Our warm-up was the 2.36 mile route along 6th to Alameda to 1st to Tidelands along the bay. Dynamics were done at the Orange and 1st park We did 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off from Orange to Tidelands. At Tidelands, after a little experimentation to get the pace right, we ran eight loops, followed by ten fast 80-meter strides. The table below shows 200 and 400 meter splits for 5k times. The map shows the route we used. We'll come back to this workout several times this season. Total mileage was around 7 miles... Coach Green

Most of the team from last year have already started Cross Country training for the 2018 season. If you want to be a part of the team this year I strongly suggest that you start running as well.Cross Country championships begin in the summer, not in the fall. If you plan to come out for the team this season you should begin base training as soon as possible. To participate on the Islander Cross Country team, you must be able to run 2 miles no slower than 15 minutes, either boys or girls. The reason for this cutoff is practical. Very few of our workouts take place on the track and the warmup run to where we'll do the actual workout can be over 2 miles away. If you can't run 2 miles at 7:30 pace you'll be left behind. I have a schedule for new runners on our "members" page on Islander Track. See the link in the right sidebar. The members link on our website requires a password so if you're serious about running Cross Country for Coronado, go to Islander Track and fill out the contact form ... or send me an email/text.
-Coach Green

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

With nearly
4,500 high schools in California, and with our state one of only four in the
country with just a single division, it's very hard to qualify for the
California State Track Meet. Out of San Diego, only three athletes (plus a few
who matched the state performance standard) in each event qualified for the
State Prelims. Between 9 and 12 athletes out of the state advanced to the
finals held the next day. To get to the coveted Podium Ceremony, an athlete
must be among the top six finishers. Only the Nation's elite stand on the top
step.Before last week's State Meet,
Coronado had only two athletes make it to the podium. Jamie Klages tied for
fifth in the high jump in 2005 with a height of 5 feet, seven inches. In 2015
Erik Armes placed fifth in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:10.09. Only one
other in Coronado's history made it to the finals. That was Samantha Piper in
1998 who placed eighth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.13.

At last
week's State Meet, held at Buchanan High school in Clovis California, Alysah
Hickey was among the state's top athletes and was competing in both the high
jump and the long jump. One of the problems for the few athletes who are
proficient in both the high jump and the long jump is that the two events usually
begin at the same time. The long jump is a sprinters' event while high-jumpers,
at the higher levels, tend to be specialists. At the state meet, Alysah was the
only girl competing in both events at the same time. On Friday, during the
warm-up for the prelims, both Alysah and our other female qualifier, Ruthie
Grant-Williams, noticed that they were slipping on take-off. The left side of
the take-off area was a little slippery, and Alysah didn't have her high-jump
shoes with her. Usually, she competes in both the long jump and high jump
wearing the same shoes. A high jump shoe has four extra spikes in the heel.
Fortunately, one of Alysha's competitors wore the same size shoe and let her
use them for her jumps. The goal at the prelims was to narrow the field down to
12 jumpers to compete in the finals the next day. As it turned out, exactly 12
jumpers cleared the second height of 5 feet 5 inches, so they stopped the
competition at that height. This was fortunate because now Alysah could
concentrate on the long jump. Although both events started at 3:00 PM, Alysah
was in the third long jump flight which started after she qualified for the
high jump finals. The top 12 jumpers out of the three flights would move on to
Saturday's finals based on the three jumps each was allowed in the prelims.
When Alysah got her take-off mark there was a tailwind. However, when she
jumped the wind had died down. Both of her first two attempts were over 20 feet
but in both cases her take-off foot was slightly over the line and neither
counted. She had but one attempt left to move on. Her new long jump coach,
Brazilian Olympian Jadel Gregorio, told her to move her take-off mark back
about six inches. This did the trick, she hit the board with inches to spare
and soared out to the top qualifying mark of 19 feet 2.5 inches.Our other high jumper, Ruthie, didn't clear
the opening height but she had a great year with a PR of 5 feet, 5 inches to
tie for the third-best mark in San Diego this season.Our third state meet qualifier was Ian Hurlburt
in the 800 meter run who ran 1:54.94 but missed moving to the finals by less
than a half second. Ian also had a great season and comes away with the top San
Diego Section mark of 1:54.22 which is a new school record. Ian will
matriculate at UCSB next year. At the Saturday Finals both the high jump and
long jump started at 5:00 PM. This time there were no flights in the long jump
so Alysah had to juggle both events at the same time. One advantage in the long
jump is if you hit a big mark early in the competition you can pass the rest of
your jumps. Friday's qualifying marks were not brought forward.At the finals each of the 12 jumpers were
allowed 3 tries. The top 9 were then allowed 3 more attempts with the top marks
coming out of any of the jumps. On Alysah's first attempt she hit 19 feet 3.5
inches to immediately take the lead. However, there were three other girls also
over 19 feet, so at that point it was too close for comfort.After two more jumps, interspersed with high
jump attempts she didn't improve her mark, but she did retain the lead.Sometimes the only way to tell whether she
was getting ready for the high jump or the long jump was the color of her
shoes; the borrowed high jump shoes were green; her long jump shoes were red.
Our high jump coach, Kerry Elders, was on one side of the field coaching her
from the end zone while Jadel was coaching from the stadium. Jadel wasn't hard
to spot from the field as he's 6 feet 8 inches tall. When the last three long
jumps started. the high jump was in its final stages. Since she already had the
lead, Jadel told her to pass until the last jump so she could concentrate on
the high jump. Once the high jump was over she came back to the long jump pit,
already the winner, as no one had exceeded her initial jump. She had nothing to
lose so she went all out and cleared 19 feet 9.75 inches to win by nearly 7
inches.

This was a wind-legal Personal Record, a school record, and is the fifth all-time best jump for San
Diego County. Two-Time Olympic 100-meter champion, Gail Devers, has the top
mark at 20 feet 7 inches. Alysah plans to go for that next season. Her long
jump victory broke a 3-year drought of State Meet Track and Field Champions for
the San Diego Section. The last State Champion was Madison’s Dotun Ogundeji who
won the shot put in 2015. At big meets,
like the State Championships, it doesn't take too many top athletes for a team
to place high in the rankings. Alysah scored enough points to put Coronado
among the top 10 girls’ teams. We tied for eighth place with the next San Diego
Section team, La Costa Canyon, coming in 43rd.

There was quite a bit of press, both online and in print, coming
into the CIF Track and Field finals held at Mt. Carmel high school last
Saturday predicting that Coronado would be in a close contest for the girls'
D-II title with University City, and that Alysah Hickey would lead the way for
the Islanders. It turned out that only half of that prognosis came to pass. The
team title wasn't close.

Hickey won the Long Jump, the High Jump, anchored our
winning 4x100 relay team, and placed second in the 100-meter dash. Her three
individual events netted us 28 points. In the prelims for the Long Jump, she
jumped 19 feet 3 inches. Because no one else came close to this mark, she
almost sat out the three remaining jumps allowed in the finals. After everyone
else finished their jumps, she took one more try and soared out to 19 feet 10.5
inches. Her Long Jump mark made her the top seed at the state meet this weekend
and was a big improvement to her school record of 19-5.5 set earlier this year.
Her mark in the high jump, for her, was just 'average,' at 5 feet 6 inches, but
her PR of 5 feet 10.5 inches, set at the Mt. SAC Relays this year, makes her
one of the top jumpers in the State.

Joining Hickey in the 4x100 were Ruthie Grant-Williams, who
ran the first leg; Madison Shanks, who ran the second leg; and Abigail
Whittemore, who ran the third leg. Their time of 48.22 was good for First Place
in our Division, added 10 points to our score, and was a school record to boot.

Our second highest
scorer was Grant-Williams, who placed third in the high jump with 5 feet, 4
inches; eighth in the long jump with 16 feet, 8 inches; and second in the 100
hurdles with a time of 15.34.Although
her hurdle time was faster than the school record she set at the Bronco Invite
this season of 15.39, it gets an asterisk as there was a 2.6 meter per second tailwind. Her three individual events
totaled 15 points.Our third highest
scorer was Teresa Perez who placed fourth in the
1600 in 5:03.97, fifth in the 800 with 2:19.40, and fifth in the 3200
with 11:06.84.Her three events added 13
points to our total. Sofia Van Arsdale added 3 points with a sixth-place finish
in the 800 in 2:20.11. We had two other runners in the "A" heat of the 1600 besides Perez with Madden Hundley
running 5:16.99 and Abby Hundley clocking 5:23.20. A big swing in points for us
came in the Discus Throw. We thought that the University City girl would place
third for 6 points. However, she fouled out and our girl, Victoria Perez,
placed third for the 6 points.Add the
points up and they total 75. University
City was second with 61 points, followed by Cathedral Catholic (58), La Costa
Canyon (54), and West Hills (49) out of the 36 D-II schools that scored at
least one point.

For the boys, our only advancer was Ian Hurlburt who won the
800-meter run with a time of 1:54.59. He hasn't lost a race to a San Diego
runner all season. Luke Klingenberg clocked 4:31.25 in the 1600 for place eighth place in our division.

Our State Meet entries are Hickey in both the High Jump and
Long Jump, Grant-Williams in the High Jump, and Hurlburt in the 800-meter run.
We scratched Hickey from the 100-meter dash because there is a schedule
conflict with the two jumps and the 100. Competing in three events at the same
time is difficult enough at an invite. At
the State Meet level, it's very difficult. Since Alysah's best events are the jumps, we'll stick with jumps, at least for this year.

The nine girls who competed in the CIF finals. All have a school record to their name.
Left to Right are Ruthie Grant-Williams, Abby Hundley, Madison Shanks, Teresa Perez, Madden Hundley, Victoria Perez, Sophia Van Arsdale, Abby Whittemore, Alysah Hickey. Click on Image to expand.